"Well," said Keith, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Right now we’re headed to the Briarwood Forest. We should get there by seven and" - Keith was cut off as Nick exclaimed,

"Seven! Keith, I don’t think I can keep jogging with this backpack and all for another hour!"

"Don’t worry. I’m not planning to," he replied.

"Phew! That’s a relief! So, where are we going to stop?"

"The Westwood Pokémart, of course," he said in between breaths. "I need some more pokéballs and some food for Squirtle. The pokémon have to eat, too, ya’ know."

The boys jogged on westward beside the road. Every now and then, a car flew by, leaving the boys coughing in the smoke. They rested periodically at bus stop benches, more tired each time. Finally, the boys stumbled in through the automatic doors, panting, at their destination, the busy Pokémart. Spying two chairs by the door, Keith and Nick collapsed into them like ragdolls, struggling to catch their breath.

"Whew! Two hours of jogging and walking with this big heavy sack on my back! Why did we go so hard?" Nick panted. Keith didn’t reply; he was too busy breathing to waste air talking. The boys slumped there immobly for a while until, after about five minutes, Nick climbed onto his feet, bracing his shoulders to support his backpack.

"Come on, Keith. Don’t you want to buy some pokéballs?"

"Just a minute," said Keith. "I have to stand up first," he laughed, struggling upright. "OK, I think I can walk now."

"Ha, ha," Nick faked, grinning. "Come on, let’s go."

The Pokémart was a large store with many aisles. People milled nonchalantly about the store, pushing shopping carts as they selected their products and filled the building with the low hum of their conversation. Signs hung down from the ceiling denoting the different sections of goods. "Pokéballs" read one. Another said "Pokémon Food." The boys decided to split up to save time. Nick visited the Pokéballs section while Keith walked to the Food isle. Fifteen minutes later they both met at a check-out counter, Nick carrying a mesh bag full of thirty shrunken pokéballs ("Fifteen for each of us," as he explained) and Keith carrying a large bag of dry food. Ringing up their goods, a sales clerk asked, "Do you have a trainer’s card?"

"A what?" asked Keith.

"A trainer’s card, from the Pokémon Centers," she replied.

"Uh, no. What’s a trainer’s card?" he asked.

"Here," the sales clerk said, handing Keith a pamphletfrom the counter. "When you have a trainer’s card I can give you a fifty percent discount."

"Fifty percent!" cried Nick, breaking in incredulously. "I’m getting one of those next time I get Staryu treated!"

The clerk smiled at the repsonse and bagged the boys goods.

The pokéballs and the food cost sixty dollars total. Keith and Nick both forked out thirty dollars (over a month's savings) to the sales clerk. "Have a nice day," she said as they walked away. The irony wasn’t wasted upon the boys.

"Man, that was expensive," Nick said. "I’m gonna’ have to get one of those cards to afford this kinda’ stuff."

"Yeah," Keith replied. "That would definitely help." They both exited the Pokémart with a heavier backpack, and a lighter wallet.

"Oh no..." Nick groaned disheartened. "How much farther do we have to go? Can't we look for a bus?"

"Cheer up," replied Keith. "Were only a mile from the forest. That Pokémart was built near the edge of the city." Nick looked up, and, seeing the forest in the distance, merely sighed, smiling,

"It’s about time."

At 7:15, the boys reached the entrance of the forest, exiting Westwood’s city limits. Nick paused and looked back, thoughtfully. Only half a day ago, he had been telling his unbelieving brother about Mew. Since then, Nick had already left home, won his first pokémon battle, and taken the step to maturity of spending a considerable amount of money on goods that were actually useful. He marveled at the difference. From an ordinary thirteen-year-old boy, pushed around by his brother and teased by his brother’s friends, he had become a pokémon trainer! Free to travel the world and do as he wished! He had his Pokédex and his Staryu to prove it, too. And it wasn’t only that; Nick had made a new friend, who, from the half day they had talked, already seemed to be one of the most pleasant people he had ever met. It was quite a change! Only, Nick realized, he was going to miss his father.